NHL starts the new hockey season

The NHL and the Russian Hockey Legends during the Global Hockey Legends For Hurricane Sandy Relief Charity Game in New Jersey, on April 13. Source: Getty Images / Fotobank

RBTH discusses who will win the Stanley Cup and what to expect from Russian hockey stars in the 2013-14 season. Very soon the Russian Hockey Players Guide 2.0 will appear on rbth.ru. This is the continuation of our special project dedicated to the NHL. There you will find all the information about Russian legionnaires, as well as predictions for the new season contributed by leading hockey experts from Russia, America and Canada.

On Tuesday, October 1
an all-Canadian match between Montreal and Toronto opened the National Hockey
League season. The regular season will last until April 14, with a two-week
break in February for the Olympic Games in Sochi. The Russian stars who play in
the NHL and the Olympic hockey games will be the main focus of the stories RBTH
will be covering during the new sports season.

Related:

This winter will be a
special one for hockey fans on both sides of the ocean. The NHL will play its
first full season after the lockout. The league has changed, and over the next
year we will see more clearly exactly how it has changed.

In February, about a
hundred players will head off for the Olympics. Gary Bettman will probably
announce the exact amount of money that the league will have to lose for
those two weeks.

On the sidelines
people are saying that this Olympics may be the last for NHL players. And if
that happens, given the potential of the Russian KHL, the lineups of the North
American clubs could change beyond recognition.

Actually, the league has
already begun to lose its stars, and the lockout was one of the reasons. To
everyone's amazement left winger Ilya Kovalchuk gave up a multi-year contract
with the New Jersey Devils and transferred to the St. Petersburg SKA for a
salary of $10 million a year.

If the leadership of the NHL makes the historic
decision not to release players for the next Olympics, then, for example,
Ovechkin will surely leave for Russia. Especially considering the toothless
striker will turn 33 in 2018. Can you imagine the NHL without Ovechkin?

Anyway, a new season
without Kovy is pure nonsense, at least for the
fans of the Devils and the Russian fans of the NHL. However, it is recognized
that NHL games are still clearly superior to the other leagues around the
world. And Kovy's place at the forefront of hockey will be taken by young
players.

This year seven Russian newcomers signed
contracts to play in the NHL. In addition, tempting offers from the KHL in the
off-season were refused by Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, new Dallas player
Valery Nichushkin, and Detroit leader Pavel Datsyuk.

You can read more
about these and other Russian NHL stars in our guide. Independent hockey
experts from North America and Russia have sent in their predictions about how
the new Russian players and their clubs will fare in the new season. Stay
tuned!